First of all, thank you all for your support!

I've had several people come to me and ask how they can make SSS walls.
Well, it depends on several things, for one being I consider walling an art, but here are some general guidelines to help your walls become more successful.

Wise scan choice
Choosing a great scan and deciding on its placement is one of the most important prerequisites to an engaging wall. You should choose scans that have good flow, interest, and composition when placed on your base layer. It's generally bad to place your scan close to the edges or facing outwards - always have your character facing "into" the wall to give them room. The rule of thirds is a great compositional guideline too. Also, it's better to choose scans you know other people will like. If you wall every other random scan you happen to like, that doesn't mean many others will like them or use them as their walls, so expect the C and B ratings. Choosing a scan is one of the hardest steps for me, because I don't want to commit all my energy and time into average scans that are not worth it.

Technique
How clean are your extractions? Is your painting messy and unrefined? Do you have lazy color leaks and jagged lines in your vectors? Good technique will make people say "wow" when they fullview your wall, instead of fullviewing and finding too many faults that cost you their fav. It takes practice and time, especially to find and perfect your style, but showing dedication and care for your walls will leave others in awe of your hard work.

Execution
How good is your idea? Did you plan well? If you just kinda slapped things here and there for an hour with no motives prepare to get those Cs. If all the elements in your wall flow together well and it looks cohesive enough as a stand-alone piece, then you have a solid wall. :) Look at your wall objectively at the end, and think to yourself how well it will do if submitted like that. If you think it's not good enough, there's probably more you do to it (remember the finishing touches and adjustment layers!), and you can ask a friend for their opinion or if they'll ever use it.

Originality
I see many people who are not impressed by walls that use generic ideas and styles that everyone has seen a million times before. Those walls may have gotten good ratings 4 years ago, but by now they just don't cut it. This is also true if you keep walling the same way, with scans or style, every time. People like to feel refreshed when they change their walls, but if they all look the same, they probably won't use them. This doesn't mean you should always go all out or deliberately find "original" ideas each time - because even extending scans or repainting bgs can still be successful. It depends on your technique and execution, and even better if you have a unique visual style, because you want to aim for walls that no one else can replicate if they tried. If it's something they know they can't do the same or as well as you, they will be impressed, and your wall will be originally yours.

Conspicuousness
Your wall needs to be eye-catching and draw everyone's attention from the thumbnail compared to all the other average walls around it! If not, don't expect that many comments when no one can find it among the waves of other similar walls. This can be done by using vivid colors and contrast (but tastefully done!), or an interesting scan visible from the thumbnail that people will want to click on to have a closer look. It can be all a competition and you'll want to make your wall stand out from the rest! Usually people with distinct visual styles already stand out enough to be recognized from the thumbnail, so this is an advantage.

Usability
You can go wild and place things all over your wall, but if people can't find anywhere to place their desktop icons, you wall is ineffective as a wallpaper, and would be better as a regular image. So it's also important to choose your audience: in my case I go for the average Windows user with icons on the left and a taskbar at the bottom that covers the sig. If you're doing Macs, you may want to accommodate for icons on the right and your sig at the top. So don't go placing your subject way over underneath an area for icons or make your sig so conspicuously ugly the wall becomes unusable if it can't be hidden. Test WIP shots of your wall on your own desktop periodically to make sure it looks good when in use, and adjust any elements that look awkward. Testing on other monitors is optional, but all of them have different color balances and brightness, so take caution!. In the end, usability is one of the biggest factors that distinguish a WALLPAPER from any old fanart image.

Good luck! Experience is also needed to find a good balance for all of these elements. So have fun as you wall and take note which do better than others. You should ask yourself why they are more popular and use what you observe to improve your walling approaches! (lol I'm such a scientific artist XP)

Planned projects:

WIP:


Check this out too!

What you can do to help out:

1) Wear the sigs
2) Do the memes
3) COMMENT on the articles!
Have fun!